Former Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey called as LDS mission president

FILE: Former Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey has been called to be a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

OGDEN — Former Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey has been called to be a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He will serve for three years as president of the church's Peru Lima North Mission in South America.

Godfrey will take over as leader of the mission from current President John Erickson on July 1 and will oversee dozens of missionaries and supervise the church's missionary work in the area.

Godfrey became Ogden’s youngest mayor in 1999 at the age of 29 and served for three terms. In a 2012 interview, he told the Deseret News his most proud accomplishment during those 12 years was helping the city evolve from “an old-school railroad town to a new-school high-adventure recreation mecca.”

Since leaving office, Godfrey has helped form consulting firm BetterCity.us, which is based in Ogden. The company consults with cities on how they can bring more businesses and jobs to town.